Daily News Channel

New photo shows healthier Fidel Castro

A new photo of ailing Communist leader Fidel Castro surfaced on Sunday — the second in 10 days — revealing a more healthy-looking man than in prior photos.

Published in Cuba’s state-run youth newspaper, Juventud Rebelde, the photo shows Castro, 83, meeting with Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa. The photo shows a well-groomed Castro wearing a white short-sleeve shirt and standing face to face with Correa. The meeting took place on Friday and involved economic matters and medical checkups, according to the state-run newspaper. Another photo of the former Cuban president was released on August 13 by Pastors For Peace, a U.S.-based advocacy group that recently traveled to the island nation and is pushing for an end to the U.S. trade embargo that’s been in place for almost half a century. Castro, who came to power in 1959, has not appeared in public since he had abdominal surgery in 2006. The Cuban leader ceded the presidency to his younger brother, Raul, last year, but has retained leadership of the Communist Party, the only legal political party in Cuba.